Marr Receives Blair Heaton Award

Men’s track and field standout Mike Marr '08 is the 2008 recipient of the Blair Heaton Award. Marr, a team co-captain, helped the Crusaders to second-place finishes in the inaugural Landmark Conference championships in both indoor and outdoor track and field. At the indoor championships, he took home the silver medal in the high jump and the bronze in the triple jump. He won the gold medal in the high jump at the outdoor championships, his fifth career conference title in that event. He was also the runner-up in the triple jump and took seventh in the long jump.

A five-time NCAA Division III Championships qualifier, Marr’s best finish at nationals came in 2007 when he placed sixth and earned All-American status. He was the 36th All-American in Susquehanna men’s track and field history and the first ever in the high jump. He placed ninth in the high jump at this year’s NCAA Championships. In addition, he holds Susquehanna’s indoor high jump record at 2.04 meters and ranks third on the outdoor list with a personal best of 2.05 meters.

In academic achievements, Marr was one of 58 winter student-athletes across all divisions nationwide to earn an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a one-time, nonrenewable grant of $7,500. He was a two-time academic All-American and the 2008 Landmark Conference Senior Scholar Athlete for men’s indoor track and field. He earned conference academic honors six times over his four years.

Marr received his degree in biology with a minor in health care studies and was a member of both the Beta Beta Beta biology honor society and the Alpha Lambda Delta national honor society. This fall, he will attend the University of Pittsburgh dental school.

The Blair Heaton Award is given annually to the senior man who best typifies devotion to scholarship and athletics, and displays the same kind of self-discipline and courage shown on the playing field by the late Blair Heaton. A 1942 Susquehanna graduate, Heaton starred in football and track, and later returned to Susquehanna as a coach. He died in 1960 at the age of 41.

The contributing writer to Scoreboard is Jennifer Botchie '99, cheerleading coach at Susquehanna.